2023: My mission in Benue State is not a joke--Akaahan

By Our Reporter

What is the motive behind your governorship aspiration?

Thank you and welcome to my house. This is an impromptu meeting but I will do my best to be a very very humble host. At the end of the day, I want you to have a return of the time you have invested for coming over here. Most people have their reason for joining the governership race. Having been part of the system since 1999 that I joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ventured into Nigerian politics, I had always had a vision and the mission to help Benue State. To assist the state anywhere I can. As a young man, I left the shores of Nigeria to Europe where I have lived for the past 30 years. I went to school there and aspired in various companies. I am glad to tell you that I worked in most companies that they call Global Players. I acquired skills which I can replicate at home. Having been building infrastructure for Europe in Germany in Wide Area Networking and Local Area Networking including security appliances for telecommunication environment, I gathered a lot of wealth of experience and I know that the experience that I am talking about can be replicated in my State. Benue State is endowed with a lot of intellectuals  but we still have areas that require people who can think and offer solutions out of the box to get the state moving from where it is today. 

I am motivated to join to join the race because I have the experience and all the prerequisites that it takes to lead Benue State. Based on what the state is looking for now, all the governors that served the state but let me take from Senator George Akume. They all have their titles. People call  Akume the most benevolent governor Others call him Akume thank you. Senator Gabriel Suswam was called Mr Infrastructure and then came Governor Samuel Ortom and he earned his title as the Defender of the Benue Valley. If not because of Ortom we would not be sleeping with our eyes closed today. So, God brought each of them for a purpose. I am telling you unequivocally that the problem of Benue in the future would not be security anymore. We will move to industrialize the state. 

I want Benue State to be an epitome of industrial development. So, that is why I ventured into the race. I have lived with the manufacturers in Germany and they are called Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) that developed most industrial equipment in the world. I can walk to their door steps and talk to them having reached the level of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Germany. I can approach them and get the machines to the state and start paying them in installments. May be that is one of the reasons God had me there so that at the end of the day, if I am coming back home, I will have the material, human and capital resources. When you combine human and capital resources together you will go places. 

My mission in Benue State is not a joke. We want to revamp Benue State and that is why I am in the race. The reason I am in the race is to enhance development because you cannot enhance development in a war zone. Now that the war is over. The Defender of the Benue Valley would soon exit office, so the state want somebody that could further build the state. That is why I am here.

What are your chances of emerging as the governorship candidate of PDP?

  I will answer it very diplomatically so that I will not stop on anybody's toe. We are not discussing who emerges but working towards emergence so that somebody can emerge in the future. That is why we are on consultations. We are right now on intensive consultations. We started with normal consultations and now we have moved to intensive consultations. We have approached G14 and G9 as groups. The governor assembled the kingmakers in the state including the aspirants not to nominate anybody or point at anybody but he did that to ensure that he guides us towards the process of having a consensus candidate, which I think is what you are talking about. So, on this process he gave us 30 days as aspirants to discuss with each other and to fast as well. We did all that but no candidate emerged. 

The ball is now in the court of G14 to decide what they want to do. Now G14 has asked the two intermediate areas who are in this contest which is something very knew to me. It has never been like that before. It has always been one intermediate area that contests. But today we have two. They instructed the two intermediate areas to go back and trim the number of aspirants to the barest minimum. In response, these intermediate areas told G14 that they have to actually zone the position to one intermediate area so that they would trim down the number of aspirants and come out with a candidate. So, you can see where the process is coming now to. If anybody should come out today and tell you that I have already accomplished the process to.be called a consensus candidate, he would offend somebody because the process is ongoing. I am working towards the process of been pronounced as a consensus candidate. It is the work I do today that would define tomorrow. It is what I do today that would define my future. So, I am leaving no stone unturned to be identified as a household name and that is what matters in politics. I am making sure that everything that it takes for at the end of the end the  stakeholders, delegates and electorate to make me a consensus candidate is well in place. These are the prerequisites that we need to get to. I am not bragging that I am the consensus candidate today but by the grace of God, I am one of the forerunners and right in the front of the race.

You have left the shores of Nigeria for decades, don't you think that will affect your chances or  aspirations, or do you think your candidature will be acceptable?

Thank you very much for that question. I have always thought in this direction that some people may think I am a green leaf in this political terrain or still a green horn. They might still want categorize me as one of the green horns. But having been in politics since 1998/1999 when PDP was formed, I can tell you that I have never disconnected from this country especially my State, Benue. I have a very very strong link with the political agitations of Benue State. I have always been around. That is why anywhere you go, I have become a name that people remember and call. I did not go to Europe to plant bottles and wait for them to germinate before I come back home. I was always coming back home. I never disconnected from home. I was always in connection with home. It might interest you to know that three years ago when the issue of choosing the Chairman of Kunav Unity Forum came up, some people who did not know me were banking on what you are saying today to disqualify me. Eventually they tried and failed. They tried to use that context to disqualify me but as God will have it, I had enough people who testified on my being around and being very connected to the system of Nigeria and Benue State in particular. Today, I am still the chairman of Kunav unity forum. I am the first chairman of the forum that ever held a summit in Vandeikya at Jechira Hotel where all sons of Kunav land gathered together for the first time in the history of Nigeria to discuss the progress of Benue State and Kunav land in particular. So, having had all this experience and having been home regularly for the purpose of interacting with my brothers and sisters. Being around them all the time, I am not one of the people that would be classified as disconnected from the system. I know how it operates and I can feel the pulse of a Benue person when I sit with him I will tell where the shoes hurts because I have been around.

You want to be a governor of a state that had been bedeviled with insecurity and you said you want to industrialize the state, so, how do you intend to do that when the state is witnessing series of crisis?

If you sit with any aspirant and he keeps hammering on insecurity and this is the issue that is bedeviling Benue State but for a period now, we have experienced silence. This is because insecurity is being dealt with. Those sitting outside may not know but the issue of insecurity is being dealt with. This man you are proposing to be the governor of Benue State knows very well and he understands the terrain very well. I told you right from time that there cannot be development  in a war zone. If a place is war torn, there cannot be development there. The issue of insecurity in Benue State would be automatically moved with the exit of President Muhammadu Buhari. It will go with the exit of Buhari. Whoever comes as the president of Nigeria will have Dr Dominics Akaahan to deal with as the governor of Benue State. 

The issue of nepotism has killed Nigeria. Most people want to hear you speaking to them in the language that they will understand as at the presidency. If he is a Yoruba man , I speak Yoruba fluently. If he is an Hausa man, I speak Hausa very fluently. If he is an Ibo man, I am excellent Ibo speaker. So, I will measure up with this people and speak to them in the language they would understand. We are moving gradually to poverty induced and organised crime. I have experienced a scenario whereby a 69 year old person who is already in retirement would want to  feature as governor's aides and this is somebody that has two or three graduates at home who are jobless. He will not tell the governor that he had graduates at home who are jobless is better you employ them than employ me because I trained them to take care of me in the future. He will collect the job, go and sit there in the office while his children are languishing at home.

 These kids especially the guys will wake up in the morning after taking their shower they will go  and join other people to discuss. They are sitting in beer parlours and someone is buying them beer. They will ask the guy, how do you survive? But life is not easy with me but every time you are buying us beer and he will tell them that don't worry I will tell you, that will be day one. So, day number two comes and he still buy beer for them and tell them that this is what I do and they will say ah no! I will not indulge in that. I am protecting my family name so I will not do that. He will gulp his beer and leave. Day Number three, they will still commune together and babes would come and hang out with them too. 

This is poverty induced crime trying to cajole others such as organised persons were sent to school. All of a sudden he will fall prey and they will bring them into the issue of swearing blood oaths then cultism has started. By the time poverty induced crime and organised crime come together, insecurity starts to build up in a state because an idle mind is literally a devil's workshop. The devil has worked on him and he has now joined criminality. So, if you don't address these things using root cause analysis. You don't carry out root cause analysis to know why these things are growing in the state and address them squarely and tell such people that give me your son who has graduated from the university to take over this position as Special Adviser and Senior Special Assistant because you cannot be there but your child or children because you trained them to come and feed you. We are building a very bad system that would turn out to be our albatross in future. So, addressing this issue as a governor is of utmost importance. It is your prerogative as a governor to be able to look at these fragment of issues with a fire brigade approach to cover them up.

What has been the bane of governance in the state is the inability to address the plight of Benue workers, so, if you become governor, how will you address this issue? 

The inability to address the working system or operational system of a state is because we are not looking deep into the issue. This is where I will always recommend that the root cause analysis must be carried out. The problem of Benue is not insecurity per say, we have the issue of ghost workers plaguing and eating deep into the fabric of the state. The state is totally indebted. The day number one that will get in as the governor, I am going to swear in a team that would be called "Debt Reconciliation Committee". The committee will sit and look at the debt profile of Benue State to ascertain whether the state is credit worthy or not. This is because we have to know how we can move the state forward. Also, look at the accumulated debt of the state. When money comes from the Federation Account and gets into the banks, the banks take everything and what is left is not able to pay salaries. You cannot just sit there as a governor and not pay salaries of workers, it doesn't work that way. No governor is happy when salaries are not paid because if salaries are not paid the economy and system are crippled. It is better to set up a committee to look at the debt profile and restructure the debts for the state to be manageable. 

The committee's core objective will be to look at the debt profile of Benue State and restructure the debts. Are you aware that up till today the governors of Benue are still talking about the loan that was collected by Mr Aper Aku, the first civilian of governor of Benue State. It is still plaguing us as a state. It is better to tell a bank to restructure the loans up-to 200 years. They will agree to your terms and conditions. If you are paying them even in installments that are very low than to allow them gulp the whole amount that comes in from the federation account. With this in place, I will conveniently pay salaries as when due. I must look for a way to pay salaries. I must look for a way to pay wages to those people that have actually earned it. I will pay earn allowances because this is the reason why I am the governor.

Benue State has been relying solely on the Federation Account which means it is not capable of generating additional revenue. So, if by peradventure you become the governor, how are you going to tackle this?

The Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state is very low that is correct. But I am not going to be a governor that will strangulate Benue people with taxes because I want to generate revenue for the state so that I can keep the government running. The only way to attract more revenue for the state is when people see what they are paying for, they pay their taxes willingly. There are issues here and there concerning taxes. Look at the issue of tenement  rates. It is not pursued in-toto. Most houses in Benue State don't have Certificate of Occupancy (CofO). If it were in Lagos it would have caused chaos. This is because if Lagos people discover that a house does not have a CofO they quickly go and do it and start laying claims to the piece of land knowing fully well that it is not theirs. 

There are a lot of benefits of acquiring a CofOs. It enables people to get loans from the banks because it serves as collateral. What I have seen in Benue State that could be controlled but is not controlled is the issue of illegal produce check points. 

The money collected from these illegal check points go into private pockets. This is an area that I would tackle permanently. My administration would deploy a policy that would guide guard farmers in this area so that their money would not be siphoned. If the government could build a system to streamline all these then their would be money to run the system. Also, another area is water. When water flows in people's pipes in their homes they will pay for the services. These are some of the ways we can generate revenue without putting pain on people because they know that the more they use it the more they will pay.

The sing song of PDP since Senator Iyorchia Ayu's emergence as the National Chairman of the party has been to wrestle power from APC, do you see this realisable? 

It is possible to wrestle power if you have the right manifesto for the people. Today, Nigerians are tired of the All Progressives Congress (APC) because they have followed the same pattern that the PDP followed and lost power. The ability to wrestle power is for you to bring out your unique selling points. If the unique selling points are able to convince the electorate then of course we could wrestle power from APC. Some of the things we are doing are called political scheming. So, these are some of the things we do but if we have our unique selling points as PDP is to see that development is the key point. If our unique selling point is saleable is like a go-to-market strategy that is saleable to end consumers that would of course turn the table around and that is the way it is. So, I am telling you confidently that the way PDP is repositioned today, we can wrestle power from APC and win the 2023 General Elections overwhelmingly. 

There are agitations here and there about which zone will produce the next president even the North wants to retain the seat, do you subscribe to this idea? 

No, I don't. Power should be given to those who are actually supposed to field in candidates. If PDP is advocating for zoning then zoning pattern should be followed. The next president should be produced by the zone that supposed the president. That is where I don't support one area dominating the other.